Dell Technologies Rolls Out VxRail Performance, Storage Updates

Dell Technologies has boosted performance across its flagship Dell EMC VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) systems.

In this latest update, the vendor unveiled new VxRail systems that include technology from its recently launched PowerEdge servers.

Elsewhere, Dell has rolled out dynamic nodes to manage storage and compute separately. It has also added more automation tools for deployments.

VMware recently said that channel partners want to see jointly engineered solutions, delivered with services.

Dell drives home that VxRail is the only HCI system jointly engineered with VMware. This allows its 12,000 customers “to accelerate business outcomes” across core data centers, cloud and edge locations.

Jeff Boudreau is president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. He says Dell EMC VxRail provides customers with a simple IT experience and path to hybrid cloud.

Dell’s Jeff Boudreau

“Dell’s investment in software development … allows for easy adoption of our latest hardware. [It] enhances the VMware experience and simplifies the entire IT life cycle.”

He said today’s updates “help customers get more from their existing resources, support even more workloads and simplify deployment.”

Greater Performance

Dell says the new VxRail systems deliver 42% more cores for faster performance compared to previous generations; plus, the optional Intel Optane persistent memory 200 series increases bandwidth by 32% on average over the previous generation.

Select VxRail systems are also getting updates with 3rd Generation AMD EPYC processors. These provide up to 64 cores per processor with increased performance to support a range of workload.

VxRail V Series now offers NVIDIA A40 or A100 Tensor Core GPU options. When combined with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and NVMe caching capabilities, they offer greater performance and simpler deployment for demanding AI and machine-learning applications.

VxRail P Series provides up to a 20% increase in capacity. This can better support a range of workloads such as VDI, streaming video and medical imaging.

VxRail E Series now has 50% more PCIe slots to add additional resources such as network or fibre channel cards.

Dell says customers can also expect faster application response from Intel-based PowerEdge systems. The addition of PCIe Gen 4 doubles bandwidth and offers 33% more PCIe lanes to speed data processing.

Dell EMC VxRail Dynamic Nodes

The new VxRail dynamic nodes are compute-only systems designed to help customers simplify operations. They also help better manage storage resources and reduce costs by supporting more workloads. Moreover, they extend VxRail environments to include external storage options.

Customers can expand VxRail’s operational model to external storage by sharing VMware vSAN storage capacity across clusters via VMware vSAN HCI Mesh.

VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, as a hybrid cloud infrastructure platform, can be configured with dynamic nodes to use Dell EMC PowerStore, PowerMax or Unity XT as primary storage.

Customers can scale compute and storage independently to meet workload needs, the company said. This includes support for VMware Virtual Volumes with a single source of Dell support.

VMware Integration

Elsewhere, VxRail HCI System Software advancements give customers greater control over installation with new self-service tools. Customers can validate, orchestrate and automate cluster deployment on their own time. This targets enterprises with remote or distributed environments. Additional software capabilities allow customers to dynamically redeploy or reallocate nodes within clusters.

“VxRail sets the pace for HCI adoption because customers value the seamless experience jointly created by Dell Technologies and VMware.” So says Lee Caswell, VP, marketing, cloud platform business unit, VMware.